Rich Mullins (1955-1997)
Rich Mullins was an American contemporary Christian singer and songwriter. He was born in Richmond, Indiana.
Mullins was best known for his worship songs Awesome God and Sometimes by Step, both of which have been embraced as modern classics by many Christians. Some of his albums were considered among Christian musics’s best. His songs have been performed by numerous artists, including Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, John Tesh, Christ Rice, Jars of Clay, and many others.
Rich Mullins is also remembered for his radical devotion to the Christian faith. He was heavily influenced by St. Francis of Assisi (1181–1226). After his song, “Our God is an Awesome God” hit the top of the music charts and his music started earning millions, Rich entrusted the profits from his tours and record sales to his church. He asked only to be paid the average salary for an American each year, and that the rest be given to missions to help the poor.
Although Rich Mullins grew up in the church and never wavered in his faith, he struggled with depression, loneliness, and eventually alcohol.
Rich leaned heavily on the love and wisdom of pastor and author Brennan Manning, who had also wrestled with alcohol. Manning wrote a wonderful book entitled The Ragamuffin Gospel, and Rich’s group became the Ragamuffin Band.
Rich Mullins died in 1997 in a car accident. In 2014 Color Green Films released a feature-length docudrama on the life of Rich Mullins entitled Ragamuffin.
The thing I like most about the Bible is all the weirdos that are in it. The Bible is just packed with them.
David didn’t kill Goliath because he set out to kill giants. He set out to give sandwiches to his brothers, and Goliath got in the way.
I never understood why going to church made you a hypocrite, because nobody goes to church because they are perfect. If you’ve got it all together, you don’t need to go. You can go jogging with all the other perfect people on Sunday morning. Every time you go to church, you are confessing again to yourself, to your family, to the people you pass on your way there, to the people who will greet you there, that you don’t have it all together. You need some direction and you need some accountability and you need some help.
Closeness to God is not about feelings, closeness to God is about obedience. I don’t know how one ‘feels’ close to God. And no one I know that seems close to God knows anything about those ‘feelings’ either. I do know that if we obey, sometimes the feelings will follow; not always, but occasionally. And, I know that if we do not obey, we don’t have a shot at ever getting those feelings.
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Psalm 149:1 — Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.
Psalm 68:35 — You, God, are awesome… the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!
Romans 12:3 — For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
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OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD by Rich Mullins, 1988
Listen/watch at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJL_bChiTI0 (sung by Rich Mullins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaU6EMR37NA (sung by Michael W. Smith)
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When He rolls up His sleeves
He ain’t just putting on the ritz
(Our God is an awesome God)
There’s thunder in His footsteps
And lightning in His fists
(Our God is an awesome God)
And the Lord wasn’t joking
When He kicked ’em out of Eden
It wasn’t for no reason
That He shed His blood
His return is very close
And so you better be believing that
Our God is an awesome God
Our God is an awesome God
He reigns from heaven above
With wisdom, power, and love
Our God is an awesome God (2x)
And when the sky was starless
In the void of the night
(Our God is an awesome God)
He spoke into the darkness
And created the light
(Our God is an awesome God)
Judgement and wrath
He poured out on Sodom
Mercy and grace
He gave us at the cross
I hope that we have not
Too quickly forgotten that
Our God is an awesome God
Our God is an awesome God
He reigns from heaven above
With wisdom, power, and love
Our God is an awesome God (5x)
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